The Echo, despite a year-on-year circulation decline of 6.1% to 117,976 copies from Monday to Saturday, now sells more copies than the Manchester Evening News, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for the first half of 2006.

The MEN, which sells 114,676 copies from Monday to Saturday, also gives away 60,000 free copies in the centre of the city.

A year ago sales of the MEN, which is owned by Guardian Newspapers Limited, publisher of MediaGuardian.co.uk, were 12,000 ahead of Trinity Mirror's Liverpool Echo, while six months ago it was 8,000 copies ahead.

A dire set of figures among the evening regional press was highlighted by the Birmingham Evening Mail's year-on-year circulation crash of 17.5%.

The Monday to Saturday edition of the Trinity Mirror title saw its circulation slump more than 15,000 copies to 75,787, despite a £1m relaunch in October.

In May, the paper closed the Sports Argus, its offshoot that covered the weekend sporting fixtures of Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and other local teams. The paper is now a section of the Birmingham Mail on Saturdays and Mondays.

The MEN said its year-on-year circulation decline of 16.5% to 114,676 copies from Monday to Saturday was due partly to a number of price rises over the past six months, most significantly from 10p to 35p on Fridays.

The paper, which recently redesigned, gives away 60,000 copies in the city centre, 10,000 more copies than planned when it launched a part-paid, part-free publishing strategy in Manchester city centre in May.

The paper aims to have a combined paid-for and free circulation of 180,000 copies by the end of the year, rising to 200,000 in 2007.

"These figures and our new readership profile strengthen the overall profile of the MEN, which is great news for advertisers," said Mark Dodson, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group's regional division.

"The new part-paid, part-free distribution strategy, coupled with the new look and feel of the MEN, all point to an exciting future for the paper. We believe there is the potential for even more copies in the city centre, as demand has been so strong.

"We're delighted to have exceeded our original targets by 20%, and these results confirm we're well on track to meet our target of 200,000 copies by the end of next year. They like the fact we've made a bold move and are ready to tackle general circulation declines experienced by the regional press head on."

Steve Dyson, the editor of the Birmingham Mail, said: "As we said at the time of the relaunch this is not an overnight, quick-fix solution but a long-term strategy."

"We've had some successes - independent research has shown that readership is up, while the profile of that readership is more in line with our target of a younger and more female audience.

"As we expected, these latest ABC figures reflect a continued downward trend. However, while the January-June 2006 figure shows a sharp year-on-year fall, going forward the trend is expected to improve, with the rate of decline slowing during the second half of the year."

The Express & Star papers, owned by the Midland News Association, remain the biggest evening paper with a combined circulation of 149,748, a year-on-year fall of 4.4%.

Coventry Evening Telegraph, the first Trinity Mirror evening paper to move to a morning edition had one of the better results, down 6.85% to 51,636 copies from Monday to Saturday. The Evening Telegraph will switch in October but the company has not announced that any of its other evening papers will follow suit.

In June, Newsquest abolished the evening editions of the Echo papers in Essex, which publishes editions in Southend, Basildon and Castle Point

Newsquest, the regional publisher owned by the US company Gannett, saw the circulation of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, based in Blackburn, fall 5.4% year on year to 32, 685. It changed to morning publication from the end of June.

The Bolton Evening News, another Newsquest title, followed suit. Its circulation fell 7.2% to 31,313.

In April, Newsquest turned the Bradford Telegraph & Argus into a single edition paper. Its year-on-year circulation was down 7.7% to 39, 536.

In Sussex, the Argus, owned by Newsquest, which publishes a morning edition and also a free Argus Lite in the mornings, fell 6.6% year on year to 34,218 while the Yorkshire Evening Post, the flagship of the Johnston Press, fell 8.7% to 61,332.

The Shropshire Star, owned by the Midland News Association, had one of the better results, kept its decline to 4.8% to 76,416.

Earlier in the year Newsquest also turned its York paper, the Evening Press - renamed the Press - and the Oxford Mail into single-edition morning papers. Both papers suffered only a marginal circulation decline.

The Oxford Mail was down 1.3% to 25,373 while the York Press was down 2.5% to 35,638.